Love is Blind

The nation is fascinated with Megan McAllister, the fiance of alleged Craiglist Killer Philip Markoff. Despite all the evidence that her man is a psychopath, Megan is stuck in the cloud of love.

"All I have to say to you is Philip is a beautiful person inside and out and could not hurt a fly!"

Good thing for the flies that they weren't advertising their services on Craiglist.While our natural instinct is to look at Megan and ask, "What's wrong with this girl," the truth is that her reaction is normal. When you're in love, you see the best in the one you love, and you're inclined to diminish the importance of any weaknesses - if, indeed, you see any at all.

"Philip is an intelligent man who is just trying to live his life so if you could leave us alone we would greatly appreciate it. We expect to marry in August and share a wonderful, meaningful life together."

We should credit Megan's loyalty not to some flaw in her character, but instead, to the power that love has to blind one from seeing that which is plain. With the daily unfolding of details proving that Philip is someone other than who she believes him to be, we have to assume that Megan's opinion of him will evolve, and her blind devotion will whither.
Let's consider Barack Obama for a moment, and the striking disconnect between reality and perceptions of reality when it comes to the President.Take the economy. Mortgage defaults? Up. Foreclosures? Up. Unemployment? Up. Chrysler? Bankruptcy coming. Whose going to pay their obligations to retirees? Us. GM? Scrambling. Today we learn that the Pontiac brand is being abandoned. The stories are endless - the damage done boundless.Yet, Americans are feeling more optimistic all the time. At least, that's what we're told.

...nearly half of Americans (46 percent) are satisfied with the way things are going in the country today, up significantly from 20 percent in mid-January.

But things have gotten worse since mid-January! How can these numbers keep trending up as indicators that we are going to be stuck in recession for the rest of the year continue to mount?

The number of people who rate the nation's economy as being in "excellent" or "good" condition has also increased from 5 percent a week before Obama took office to 12 percent today.

While 12 percent having no idea that the economy is a disaster is reasonable, we have to ask why that number has grown by a factor of nearly two and a half.

Nearly twice as many Americans think the actions Obama has taken since becoming president will help rather than hurt the nation's economy (52 percent to 28 percent).

The numbers are odd. How can the American people be so blind to reality? Ahh, but it's not the American people who are driving this huge Obama popularity at all. It's those who fell in love before the crime of his election was committed.

The increase in satisfaction is driven almost solely by Democrats: 17 percent said they were satisfied in January -- before Obama took office -- and 73 percent say they are satisfied today.

Those who were filled with lustful contempt for George W. Bush were standing on an emotional precipice, and when the Great Obama appeared, they fell into the abyss!Most Americans are philosophically at odds with Obama's FDR style socialism.

In general, more Americans say they prefer a smaller government that provides fewer services (50 percent) over a bigger government that provides more services (38 percent). And, by a 16 point margin, people think big government is a greater potential threat to the country's future than big business.

Is Obama going in the direction the country wants?

The poll also shows the public is significantly more likely to say the size of government has gotten bigger (42 percent) since Obama took office, than to say it has gotten smaller (8 percent).

Also noteworthy - the media is selling Barack's approval numbers like they are proof that love is growing, when, in fact, the numbers aren't unusual.

The president's approval is nearly identical to the job rating George W. Bush received at the same point in his first term, as 63 percent of Americans approved and 22 percent disapproved (April 18-19, 2001).

And, get this - compared to Barack Obama, George W. was a uniter.

One noticeable difference is that approval of Obama is much more divided along partisan lines today than Bush's ratings were eight years ago.

The illusion that Obama's presidency is going well is a story of the seen versus the unseen. About a third of the country, madly in love, doesn't see the obvious. This skews the polls, creating a false illusion that all is well.Just as Megan's devotion to Philip will be worn down by reality, so too, love will fade and the facts will take charge in the case of Barack Obama. The irrational exuberance will subside.
In the meantime, one has to worry, how much damage will be done?